Charity work

We have teamed up with Meningitis Research Foundation in a unique partnership to raise vital funds for the local charity.

We are going to give £5 from every person that books with us in April or goes out on a Coasteering Adventure with us in April. With most people booking in groups ranging from 2 – 10 people the charity could be raising anywhere from £10 – £50 at a time.

Meningitis Research Foundation is currently funding 17 research projects into the prevention, detection and treatment of meningitis and septicaemia. The Foundation has spent over £16.5 million on research since its inception in 1989.

Meningitis Research Foundation operates a Freefone helpline – 080 8800 3344 – providing information on meningitis and septicaemia to the general public and health professionals.

Emma McNeill from Meningitis Research Foundation says “we are thrilled to be teaming up with Coasteering NI and we really hope people avail of this great activity and in turn help us in our fight against meningitis and septicaemia.

For those of you that don’t know, Coasteering is one of the fastest growing adventure sports in the UK and Ireland. Wearing wetsuits, buoyancy aids and helmets participants will traverse a section of coastline, sometimes swimming, sometimes scrambling over rocks and with some cliff jumps thrown in for good measure. It’s an activity that is enjoyed by groups of friends, hen and stag party’s as well as families and individuals.

So why are we doing this? We know that times are tough for charities and we thought this might be a great way to get people outdoor enjoying themselves whilst raising much needed money at the same time. And we are delighted to be in a position to work alongside Meningitis Research Foundation once again.

Coasteering NI mainly operate from Ballintoy but deliver Coasteering at various locations in Northern Ireland and Ireland. Prices range from £35 – £45 per person depending on numbers which includes photos from the day. Please contact Emma on 028 9032 1283 or email [email protected] to sign up or book directly with us.

So I started writing this yesterday and saved a draft but now can’t find it.

Starting again I am filled with nostalgia; this really was a fantastic day with an amazing bunch of people. It will be hard not to be sentimental in my version of the day; excuse me if I am, but I am blown away by how amazing all of these people are!

It all started with an idea I had for a YouTube video – I wanted to get a load of people dressed up as Superheroes jumping off cliffs. As this was for my own (company) benefit I wasn’t going to charge people to come along. And then it occurred to me that instead of paying they could make a donation to Tracy’s Angels.

Tracy’s Angels? What’s that you say?

Well, Tracy is one of my best friends and this year she has been running a race a month to raise money for Marie Curie Cancer Northern Ireland. In October she was joined at Runher by 17 women – some of these women were runners, some were not, some she had known for years and some she just met, but they all turned up to walk or run and so became Tracy’s Angels. And then the madness began…

New friendships were formed, races were planned and lots of other mad ideas including a calendar!

Back to the heroes….

As we turned down the windy road to to the harbour it was very obvious that we were in for a day of huge waves. Looking across the cliffs towards Carrick-A-Reed I could see the spray coming up over the cliffs. It was no surprise that everyone already gathered at the harbour met me with a strange giddiness and excitement mixed with a good dose of nervousness!

This event had been building momentum for weeks, the craic was great on the Facebook page and now we were all here, but those bloody huge waves were intimidating!

We all got busy turning into Super Heroes and the waves were forgotten! And I have to admit, I have never seen a funnier sight than Superman, SuperGran, Spiderman and his twin, Super Girl, Robin and his twin, BananaWoman, Mrs Claus, Mr Incredible, Mr Fantastic and not least, a Marie Curie Hero, Daffodil Girl, dandering along the shore at Ballintoy.

It was a sight to behold and the passing tourists stared on in complete bewilderment; we were just laughing non stop!

The sea was I expected, really rough so we managed to do the first jump a few times each and then went for a swim in some epic waves with strong currents. It was class seeing Spiderman landing on some rocks and getting helped to the shore by one of the Robins – even Super Heroes know the importance of Team Work!

After the EPIC swims we headed back to the Harbour for some Pier Jumping and posey photographs. Again, the tourists and passersby looked on, some laughing and some looking thoroughly confused.

A few of us then made a beeline to the jeep for Hot Port and mince pies kindly supplied by Tracy, while the rest went and caught another couple of waves!

Standing around the jeep at the end chatting to everyone was just brilliant. We were all swapping stories and telling tales of how epic our adventure was.

I love days like this. New friendships are made and the shared experience will never be forgotten by anyone of us. And we all know that between us we raised enough money for Marie Curie Cancer Care to provide 25 hours of care!

So from me to all those that took part, helped out, sponsored or even just looked on and cheered from the sidelines – thank you!

You are all legends in my book

Now, have a look at this video and scroll to the bottom of the page for links to Tracy’s Angels and the Just Giving page 🙂

The 15 Heroes that are coming Coasteering with us on Sunday 9th December will be able to answer that question better! But we know fine rightly that it will be a YES!

That’s because they know that they are going to have a brilliant afternoon of waves, jumps and laughter! They also know that their “madness” is helping raise vital funds for Marie Curie Cancer Care Northern Ireland via Tracy’s Angels.

Tracy’s Angels is a group of like minded runners who all came together for Runher in October 2012 in support of Tracy’s Gilpin’s ‘Race a Month’ for Marie Curie.

They have loads of events coming up including:

A 24 hr sit up challenge – as many people as possible needed to keep sit ups going over a 24 hr period at Monkstown Boxing Club – date to be confirmed and more details to follow!